Junior leaves lock on famous Archbishop’s Bridge in Paris

Yocom hopes students and alumni can find the lock in the future.

Junior Tess Yocom’s “MIZ”-inscribed padlock sits locked to the Archbishop’s Bridge in Paris. She attached the lock during a weekend excursion to Paris while studying abroad in London.
Courtesy of Tess Yocom

Tess Yocom just wanted to share a little Mizzou love when she was in Paris.

Yocom, a junior journalism major, expressed her school pride by putting a padlock on the famous Archbishop’s Bridge during her semester studying abroad with CAPA International in London. She wrote “MIZ” on the lock in Sharpie.

“CAPA was hosting a weekend, and (Paris) was always a place I wanted to visit,” Yocom said.

The Archbishop’s Bridge is a hot spot for tourists in Paris. Traditionally, couples write their names on a padlock, lock it onto the bridge and throw the key into the river to seal their eternal love. The only way to break the love is to find the key and unlock the padlock.

“There were thousands of locks. They had to make a second bridge because they’re really running out of room,” Yocom said.

On a whim, Yocom decided to put the padlock on the legendary bridge.

“I knew I wanted to visit the bridge because it was a pretty big monument, and I was single,” Yocom said. “Guys were selling locks near the bridge for 3 euros, and they just so happened to be selling black and gold locks, so I bought one.”

Yocom said the lock made her long for Columbia.

“As soon as I wrote MIZ (on the lock), I realized I really miss Mizzou,” Yocom said.

While in Paris, she also visited the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Champs-Élysées.

“My favorite memory was when my friends and I were walking around the Eiffel Tower at night and started taking pictures,” Yocom said. “Then suddenly the lights lit up on the Eiffel Tower. It felt like we were in a movie or something.”

Yocom is currently living in an apartment in London with 21 other students.

She said she might go back to the bridge someday, but she’s not optimistic about finding the lock.

“I want to go back to the bridge, but (the lock) might be kind of hard to find since there’s a ton of locks,” Yocom said.

But Yocom said she hopes other MU fans will stumble onto it and be reminded of the university.

“It would be cool if other students or alumni were to see it and understand what it meant, since I think most people just think it’s an initial or something,” Yocom said. “Putting the lock on the bridge was a good way for me to connect with Mizzou.”